"Mr. Gan, I'd like to purchase some Blood Replenishing Pills and Solid Foundation Pills to take, but I'm short on Silver Coins. I'm thinking of using the excess Mental Awakening Pills I bought before to exchange for a few, would that be possible?" Inside the Jinshan Taoist Institute's Pill Room, Xu Jin was haggling with an old man sporting a short beard.
After leaving Instructor Ning's side, Xu Jin pondered for a while, and, considering his own situation, determined the importance of Pills for himself.
The primary function of the Mental Awakening Pill was to refresh the mind and regain a small amount of Divine Soul Power, allowing a cultivator to recover Star Power once more during morning and evening classes and thus Body Refine an additional time.
However, concerning Star Power, Xu Jin relied on the Starlight supplement from the Candou Platform and didn't have an urgent need for it in the short term.
Conversely, considering the starvation reaction, the Blood Replenishing Pills and the Solid Foundation Pills were of the utmost importance for Xu Jin at this time.
Without Pills to supplement, repeated occurrences of the starvation reaction could damage the foundational health of his body.
Under such circumstances, Xu Jin either needed to find Pills for supplementation or significantly reduce his pace of cultivation to avoid the starvation reaction.
And so, Xu Jin came to the Pill Room to purchase Pills.
Blood Replenishing Pills were three taels of Silver each, and Solid Foundation Pills five taels each.
Xu Jin had no extra money on hand, so he had to set his sights on the remaining Mental Awakening Pills he had.
But the clerk who was selling them refused to agree, leaving Xu Jin no choice but to come to Mr. Gan.
This Mr. Gan was an instructor at the Institute, teaching one of the Star Martial Six Arts, which was Medicine Inquiry. He shared a teacher-student relationship with the youths, and as it happened, this afternoon was the Medicine Inquiry class, so Xu Jin sought him out for help.
"Xu Jin, you've been practising Star Pointing for eighty-three days. Based on experience, Mental Awakening Pills are more suitable for you. Blood Replenishing Pills and Solid Foundation Pills, although they can strengthen the body, would be a waste if you can't refine and absorb them," said Mr. Gan, stroking his short beard.
"Mr. Gan doesn't know, but after I did Star Pointing and Body Refining, a starvation reaction occurred. I consulted Instructor Ning, who said I need Blood Replenishing Pills or Solid Foundation Pills to recuperate. Otherwise, it would harm my foundation. But my family is poor; aside from these Mental Awakening Pills, I have no other wealth to spare," Xu Jin said frankly.
"You've had a starvation reaction?" Mr. Gan looked at Xu Jin with some surprise.
This was another step in Xu Jin's plan to attract investment, expanding his pool of potential investors.
If it didn't work with Instructor Ning, he had to try others.
Whether it would succeed or not, he had to give it a try.
It wasn't as if trying cost him any flesh.
"If you truly have a starvation reaction, you should indeed take Blood Replenishing Pills and Solid Foundation Pills first," Mr. Gan nodded and added, "Let me see the Mental Awakening Pills you have."
Xu Jin hurriedly handed over the medicine bottle, which still contained seven Mental Awakening Pills.
Mr. Gan opened the bottle and sniffed carefully, then passed the Pills to the Pill Room Manager beside him, "Indeed, these are Mental Awakening Pills produced by our Institute, and the drug efficacy is well preserved, with no loss at all. Exchange them for him, it's not easy for the young man."
"Alright, sir."
Now that Mr. Gan had spoken, the Manager naturally would no longer object. Xu Jin was overjoyed and bowed deeply in thanks once again.
"Blood Replenishing Pills mainly function to replenish blood and generate essence, while Solid Foundation Pills replenish essence and marrow and solidify one's foundation. Taking one Blood Replenishing Pill morning and evening can naturally ease the starvation reaction. If you combine this with taking a Solid Foundation Pill every two days, it will double the effectiveness of Body Refining." Seeing Xu Jin's respectful gratitude, Mr. Gan once again offered his advice.
After thanking him again, Xu Jin then departed.
A few minutes later, Xu Jin left the Pill Room with no more Mental Awakening Pills, but his arms now held eight Blood Replenishing Pills and two Solid Foundation Pills.
The seven Mental Awakening Pills were priced at thirty-five taels together, Blood Replenishing Pills at three taels each, and Solid Foundation Pills at five taels each. In the end, the Manager even returned one tael of Silver to Xu Jin.
It was only because Mr. Gan had spoken that the Pill Room Manager didn't just refuse the return of Silver; without that, he wouldn't have even considered exchanging the Pills – after all, they were already sold goods.
***
Evening class time.
Xu Jin performed the Drinking Radiance Style with practiced ease. In a little over twenty minutes, a swollen sensation emanated from his chest, indicating that his Star Power was full, and he directly started practising the Five Battles Killing Fist.
The results of Body Refining with the Five Battles Killing Fist in the morning class were already evident during the evening class.
At the start of this morning's class, when Xu Jin's internal Star Power was full, he could at most perform the Five Battles Killing Fist one more time before exhausting his Star Power.
But at this moment, Xu Jin was able to perform the Five Battles Killing Fist and then four extra forms before his Star Power was fully depleted.
Whether in terms of Body Refining progress or the enhancement of Star Power, the improvement was quite apparent.
However, after completing the first round, Xu Jin felt a bit of hunger.
This was probably an aftereffect of the morning class.
After the morning session, he had just filled his stomach, but the fundamental problem of the starvation reaction wasn't resolved.
He took a Blood Replenishing Pill right then and there, then resumed the Drinking Radiance Style to recover his Star Power.
Less than a minute after the Blood Replenishing Pill was taken, Xu Jin felt a surging heat spread from his abdomen to his limbs, especially within the already refined and Starlight-covered area around his chest, where the heat was intensely tingling.
And the faint hunger he had felt after the first round of cultivation had disappeared.
After a further twenty minutes or so, Xu Jin once again performed the Five Battles Killing Fist, continuing his Body Refining.
Throughout the cultivation process, perhaps due to a high level of concentration, Xu Jin vaguely sensed occasional glances flicking over him.
Before long, he realized that Instructor Ning Yuchan was occasionally observing him.
But with over four hundred youths on the evening class plaza, Instructor Ning had many things to attend to and couldn't focus on him all the time; he could only spare him an occasional glance.
After one and a half rounds of the Five Battles Killing Fist, Xu Jin, without any reservations, drew on Starlight from the Candou Platform to replenish his Star Power and continued the Five Battles Killing Fist.
Xu Jin's Five Battles Killing Fist was now very smooth; a single round took only two to three minutes. Unless Instructor Ning was watching Xu Jin all the time, he wouldn't notice anything.
After using the starlight from the Candou Platform to replenish Star Power twice in succession, Xu Jin continuously performed Body Refining to strengthen its effects.
The improvement was the most noticeable.
After the second replenishment of Star Power, Xu Jin, with his Star Power completely stocked, actually performed the Five Battles Killing Fist twice in a row before depleting his Star Power.
The effects of the Blood Replenishing Pill were still present, but they felt weakened.
Xu Jin did not hesitate; this time, after taking a Solid Foundation Pill, he began to draw in the starlight to restore his Star Power.
Xu Jin had also figured it out.
So-called "the poor cultivate literature while the rich practice martial arts."
His frail body would simply break down under high-intensity Body Refining without the nourishment of pills.
The effects of the Solid Foundation Pill spread out, also a surging warm flow, but it had a heat that seemed to penetrate deep into the bones, as if drilling into them. Xu Jin felt his whole body heat up, seemingly filled with boundless energy.
With his Star Power replenished by the Drinking Radiance Style, he continued with the Five Battles Killing Fist.
After depleting it, he would draw in the starlight from the Candou Platform to replenish his Star Power and continue with the Five Battles Killing Fist.
A Solid Foundation Pill was worth five taels of silver; its efficacy could not be wasted.
After replenishing Star Power twice in succession, Xu Jin managed to perform the Five Battles Killing Fist six and a half times in one breath, and with the continuous effects of the Blood Replenishing Pill and the Solid Foundation Pill, the Body Refining effect was astonishing.
In the meantime, Ning Yuchan had probably glanced over at Xu Jin two or three times.
But it was just a glance.
Unless one was constantly watching him, it was difficult to notice anything unusual.
He began the third round of drawing in starlight to restore Star Power.
Xu Jin closed his eyes to check on the Candou Platform; there was still a faint whisper of starlight there, which at most could allow him to restore his Star Power one more time.
This bit of starlight, Xu Jin did not draw into his body again but left it there.
Firstly as an emergency reserve, and secondly, because too much is as bad as not enough.
If he showed off too much, attracting malice would not be good.
The upper limit of Star Power that Xu Jin's body could store kept increasing. During the evening class, Xu Jin only executed the Drinking Radiance Style four times before a feeling of extreme mental exhaustion emerged.
With no Mental Awakening Pills left, Xu Jin could only end his cultivation.
Yet even so, Xu Jin's cultivation results during this evening class were extremely remarkable.
With four cycles of the Drinking Radiance Style to restore Star Power, along with drawing starlight from the Candou Platform into his body four times, Xu Jin performed the Five Battles Killing Fist thirteen times in total, carrying out Body Refining thirteen times.
Other youths who hadn't broken through to the first layer of Dining Dawn could at most perform the Five Battles Killing Fist seven or eight times in one night and that would be their limit.
And they did it in separate cycles, generally replenishing Star Power every two continuous Body Refinings.
On Xu Jin's end, at his peak, he performed the Five Battles Killing Fist six times in one breath, causing the effect of Body Refining to double.
Just in one evening class, the starlight on Xu Jin's chest had already covered nearly half of his chest and abdomen, about the size of a watermelon.
Looking at this coverage of starlight, it was comparable to those youths who had been Star Pointing for about half a month.
Having reached his limit, Xu Jin decided to inform Instructor Ning that he was ending the evening class and was going to rest early.
"Reached your limit, then go back and rest early," Ning Yuchan first agreed, then suddenly said, "Activate your Star Power, let me see your progress in cultivation."
This was a sign of concern.
Generally speaking, with instructors overseeing so many youths, checking in on one youth every three to five days was already considered attentive.
Xu Jin understood it must be because he had taken the initiative to showcase his value at noon.
Perhaps, attracting investment was hopeful.
Stripping down to his waist, Xu Jin focused on his Star Pattern, and his upper torso, including his back, immediately radiated a faint starlight.
Ning Yuchan's expression visibly froze. This time, Xu Jin, who was observing on purpose, noticed, despite her veil, the movement of her willow brows and almond eyes betrayed her surprise.
"Are you experiencing any extreme hunger, have you taken any more Mental Awakening Pills?" Ning Yuchan suddenly asked.
"Instructor, I traded my Mental Awakening Pills for Blood Replenishing Pills and Solid Foundation Pills this afternoon, and after taking them this evening, I didn't experience any extreme hunger," replied Xu Jin.
Ning Yuchan's eyes moved again with Xu Jin's answer.
The youth in front of her was proactive and seemed to have a mind of his own.
"Keep up the hard work!"
Waving her hand, Ning Yuchan allowed Xu Jin to leave; she still had to continue her duty, with many youths who hadn't succeeded in Star Pointing still persevering on the training grounds.
On his way back, Xu Jin felt that he needed to strike while the iron was hot.
Since he had already surprised Instructor Ning continuously today, she might have some suspicions by now.
So, he decided to seize the moment and try to attract investment.
Back in his dormitory, Xu Jin pondered over his choice of words and his communication plan for a good while.
When he heard the unsuccessful Star Pointing youths return, bustling and noisy, he left his room and headed straight for Instructor Ning's courtyard.
Whether or not he could attract investment (a loan) would depend on tonight.